Techniques for drilling and preparing an oil well for production are well known. Once prepared, some oil wells may have sufficient reservoir pressure to enable the natural flow of oil to the surface. However, most oil wells require the use of a downhole pump to mechanically lift the oil above ground. Several type of pumps are employed for this purpose including, for example, positive displacement reciprocating pumps, electrically operated downhole submersible pumps, rotary screw pumps, and/or gas or hydraulically operated plunger lift or jet velocity systems. A prime mover is utilized to actuate the pump, often via a pump-jack driving the pump. The prime mover is commonly an electric motor, but may optionally be a combustion engine. In many oil wells it may not be desirable to have the pump run continuously. For example, in some oil wells running the pump continuously may lead to intermittent dry pumping and/or inefficient pumping of oil.